Tag: ideal

Some years ago I was very idealistic. I thought much about perfect solutions. What would be the perfect church, the perfect state, the prefect world. And how can I influence the world to contribute to achieving this. Well there are some things to notice that this isn’t so easy. My thinking changed again and again. At the beginning I thought about concepts stating: “If everyone would follow these rules then there would be more wealth and people would be more happy.” But creating a wold that is great but only if no one cheats is easy. But reality tells you that this is impractical. So what should be your aim? First thing to note about that is there are several great imaginary societies that would work. So imagine Person A. She states that in a perfect world when there is no corruption the state can help everyone. The state employees would work hard because they know they help others. They would not waste time for useless things. So she wants to strengthen the state and in the same time also enforce some anti corruption laws. But Person B has a completely different approach. The state should be minimal. Because it would became a too big institution and would not be productive. He says that if everyone has to pay as little taxes as possible everyone has more money. And if everyone would have a strong sense of justice, one that is bigger than their love of money they would all help each other and everyone has more at the end. He thinks that all help provided to the poor or unfortunate should be voluntary. So I don’t want to talk which ideal world is better. Reality is that this is more or less the left, right debate in politics. But they form the political landscape together and the result is a mess. So restrictions are Person A like and some are Person B like. They are working against each other. Both ideal worlds would work if there would be no cheaters but reality is there are. So what is the ideal world? The question makes no sense. The question is what is practical and benefits the society. What can I do to help others. You can think about a ideal world but there have to be at least to following considerations: Is it stable if it once is set up. (Cheating doesn’t destroy it or is not possible.) Really? Is it achievable in small steps? (If everything has to change at once, it wouldn’t happen) How can you achieve it? Are all the small steps stable and wouldn’t change back in the time you’re doing the next step?

As you might guessed correctly. This isn’t that easy anymore. But no one every told you that a social revolution is easy to provoke. So don’t be a Person A or a Person B. Think in intermediate steps. These intermediate steps are then more like life. In life you have to decide many things and the question I ask myself is there: “Will it benefit anyone in the long term?” So don’t stop thinking just stop thinking in unrealistic ideals.